Skip to main content

Bokur Brawl - Big Base Brawl

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the Bokur Brawl.  This event went from 10/4 - 10/6 and is coordinated by Seth Cohen, Stephen Rabideau and the NJ S.O.B.s.  Before I get into recapping my games, I have to say that I do not get to travel to any conventions, but this is the second year I have attended the Bokur Brawl and it is one of my favorite experiences of the year.  The event is run smoothly and they make sure players are cared for (lunch / dinner breaks, water provided, etc).  The entire weekend was a blast and I cannot recommend attending highly enough.  If you are interested, you can find out more at the Bokur Brawl website. 

The Bokur Brawl featured three Warmachine events.  There was the Warfaire Weekend Qualifier (which also qualified as an Iron Gauntlet event), the Big Base Brawl and the Team Event.  I played in the Big Base Brawl.  This is a 32 person event where the top half of those who place win a huge base model.  There was a pile of 16 huge base models available as prizes.  First place gets first pick, second place gets second pick, continuing on down to sixteenth place.  I had two goals for this event.  First, land in the top half so I could win a huge base.  The second goal was to have a winning record.  These two went hand in hand, as it was a five round event and I think three wins was needed to get a huge base (though my math could be off on that).  I had a third goal, which was to score a tier 1 bounty.

The bounty system is pretty simple.  The organizers provide a list of achievements that can be completed in a game.  This is open to any games played in the Big Base Brawl and Warfaire Weekend Qualifier.  If you complete a bounty, you and your opponent report it together and you get to claim a prize.  Tier 1 bounties included feats such as win by scoring 5 control points in one turn or win by assassination on turn 1.  This gives me a quick moment to mention that the Bokur Brawl has some incredible prize support.  The Big Base Brawl is giving out 16 huge based models alone.  Follow that up with the prizes available from the bounty system (a Cephalyx poster signed by PP staff, glasses and steins from past events, and much more) and you have an event where everyone who plays should expect to go home with something.

The lists:

[Skarre 3] Skarre, Admiral of the Black Fleet [+27] - Scourge of the Broken Coast
 - Kraken [35]
 - Satyxis Blood Priestess [4]
Axiara Wraithblade [0(6)]
General Gerlak Slaughterborn [0(6)]
Hermit of Henge Hold [5]
Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6]
Blighted Trollkin Marauders (max) [15]
 - Jussika Bloodtongue [5]
Bloodgorgers (max) [15]
Satyxis Blood Witches (max) [13]
 - Satyxis Blood Hag [4]
Scharde Dirge Seers [0(6)]

[Skarre 1] Pirate Queen Skarre [+28] - Scourge of the Broken Coast
 - Stalker [8]
 - Stalker [8]
 - Stalker [8]
 - Stalker [8]
Aiakos, Scourge of the Meredius [4]
 - Stalker [8]
 - Stalker [8]
 - Stalker [8]
 - Stalker [8]
Axiara Wraithblade [0(6)]
Satyxis Raider Captain [4]
Satyxis Raider Captain [4]
Severa Blacktide [0(6)]
Warwitch Siren [4]
Warwitch Siren [4]
Satyxis Blood Witches (min) [8]
 - Satyxis Blood Hag [4]
Satyxis Gunslingers [7]
Scharde Dirge Seers [0(6)]

For the Big Base Brawl (BBB), I brought a double Scourge list pairing.  I brought my Skarre3 list and a Skarre1 stalker spam.  The Skarre3 list is one that I played extensively since she released around 18 months ago.  Since Oblivion dropped, the list has changed slightly.  I used to run two units of blood gorgers and Saxon.  With the Oblivion update, one unit of blood gorgers was replaced by a max unit of blood witches plus the UA and Saxon was replaced with the Hermit.  I used to always say that tough / healing was one of the few things I didn't feel good playing Skarre3 into and the blood witches have a grievous wounds attack type that solves that issue.  I also very much enjoy ambushing a max unit.  Saxon was in the list purely for pathfinder.  However, I kept going back and forth between Saxon for pathfinder or Ragman for dark shroud.  Since I played with Ragman, I knew I could run the list without pathfinder and the blood witch hag provides dark shroud.  This allowed me to include the Hermit.  The BBB was the first event where I would be running the Skarre3 list with the Hermit, but there were several interactions that I was very interested to try out.  Mad visions could be clutch to keep the kraken alive when I accidentally leave it in charge range of something and the additional ARM debuff could really make it crush things.  Finally, if I was concerned about someone trying to shoot Skarre3, she can use the Hermit as a sucker target and he only takes one point of damage per shot.  I felt like all this made him a solid addition to the list.
My second list was taken from WTC team Norway Hugin's Jonas Brand, with Skarre1 and eight stalkers.  I managed to borrow four stalkers so I could try running this list.  The one change I made was to bring Axiara instead of Gerlak.  I tend to have trouble getting Gerlak to the fight (probably just I need to learn to play him better) and I was hoping Axiara would have more impact.  In retrospect, the overtake / beserk / grevious wounds combination is probably more impactful, as there isn't much for Axiara to use her tactician bubble or battle plans on.  When I decided to bring this list, I thought was that I was more practiced with Skarre3, but that having this list as an option could scare my opponents away from some things I might not otherwise want to deal with.  What ended up happening is that I dropped this most rounds.  Turns out that Skarre1 with stalkers is still really good.  My expectation was that this would play similar to the Skarre1 five stalker / 2 wraith engine list Brad Park has been playing.  I actually took that list as my pair to Skarre3 in the team tournament event, so I will discuss it in more detail next in my next post.  That said, I was surprised at how much eight stalkers could continue playing the game after Skarre1's feat was done, but I was primarily playing to pressure scenario and win by turn three if possible.

I will add one extra note.  The meta I play out of is the Mark Howard Dojo (MHD), which is located in South Jersey just outside Philadelphia.  We probably sent 20 - 30 players to the Bokur Brawl, so odds of me running into people from the MHD was pretty high.  This note is relevant because my first round opponent was Derek Sennestrom, a fellow MHD player.  Derek is a very good player and I was not happy to be put against him in round one.  I apologize, but I recorded almost no notes from these games, which means I won't have specific lists or even pairs to report.  Derek was playing Cygnar and ended up dropping Stryker3 in Flames in the Darkness.  He had five toros, two units of precurors and some solos.  I chose to run Skarre1, as the scenario was king of the hill and I felt like Skarre1 with all the stalkers could try to push for a turn 2 or 3 scenario win.  I lost the die roll and Derek chose to go first.  Top of one, he ran forward.  Bottom of one, I ran forward, keeping my stalkers threatening all scenario elements.  Top of two he put all the toros into zones (two into the left rectangle, two into the circle and one into the right rectangle), along with a couple precursors.  Bottom of two I ambushed, feated and destroyed three toros, while decently crippling the other two.  I also killed the infantry in the zones and ended up scoring 2 (flag and right rectangle).  Top of three he tried to strike back.  I believe he killed a three or four of my stalkers and a bunch of solos.  He contested everything and scored 1 (flag, I think).  Bottom of three, my remaining stalkers and Severa and the gunslingers killed everything in the zones, destroyed his objective and I scored 5 to win 7-1.


Round 1 - End of Bottom 2 (Skarre1 feat)

This was my first game running the list and I felt great that I was able to run it according to plan.  I think king of the hill is a particularly good scenario for the Skarre1 lists with 5+ stalkers.  That said, I was already in love with the list and ready to run it again.

Round two was against Cal Jones, who was running a mercenary pairing.  He dropped Ossrum and I elected to play Skarre1 again.  The scenario was spread the net.  I won the roll to go first and ran forward aggressively, trying to force him to stay back so I could bully scenario.  He responded by feating on bottom of one and running everything at me.  I took a couple minutes to debate whether I feat into his feat or if I back off and wait a turn.  My biggest concern was that if I backed off I would be giving up too much scenario presence and it would turn into and uphill battle.  I knew that with the five stalkers list, you have to play very aggressively for scenario, so I decided to feat into Ossrum's feat.  In hindsight, this was a mistake.  I did not kill as much as I needed to on top of two and the game turned into a massive grind.  That is the kind of game this list doesn't really want to play, but I ended up finding odd ways to kill things.  Severa charged a jack in a zone and used pistoleer plus heart seeker to put a bunch of damage on it and then a stalker finished it off.  It was plays like this that made me really enjoy the list.  That said, the grind proved too much for me and Cal ended up with a scenario victory 6-11.  When I say this game was a crazy grind, I mean each of us had over 100 army points destroyed when it was all done (105 - 111).  Ridiculously good game, though next time I run into Ossrum, I will pull back and wait out his feat, even if it means falling a little behind on scenario.


Round 2 - End of Bottom 2 (Skarre1 feat)

Round three paired me against Mike Gill, another MHD player.  He plays retribution and dropped Issyria into me.  I again played Skarre1.  I considered Skarre3, but decided I wanted more practice with the Skarre1 list and I didn't like the possibility of blinding light shutting down a lot of the shooting that's in my Skarre3 list.  Scenario was invasion and I won the die roll, choosing to go second. I have to beg Mike's forgiveness, as the details of this game are largely lost to the void of my memory.  I know I feated bottom of 2 (have you noticed a pattern here?) and did some solid work.  I think I managed to kill enough that it set him back, and he had issues breaking through the defense and armor that Skarre's feat presented.  In the end, Mike lost by clock, though I had a very solid attrition advantage when the game ended and I feel confident I would have won even without the clock.

Round four saw me up against Justin Moore, who brought Khador to the table.  For the first time on the day, I ended up dropping Skarre3.  Justin had Irusk2  with lots of doom reavers (I want to say six units).  I was concerned that the Skarre1 list didn't have enough to chew through everything that could be on the other side of the table.  I have played Skarre3 into doom reavers before, though not this many (it was back in the day when they were 13 points for a unit).  The matchup ended up being Skarre3 vs Irusk2 and the scenario was recon 2.  I won the roll and chose to go first.  I hoped that I was concerned that if I went second, I would be forced to run directly into his threat ranges or risk being jammed out of scenario.  Sadly, I cannot remember many details from this game.  The doom reavers did what they were supposed to do (beserk their way through multiple models each) and eventually I couldn't get through the crush of bodies coming my way.  One notable moment was the hermit allowing my kraken to survive one additional turn by negating a charge from Justin's heavy.  I also remember the greylord ternion killing my trolls to recur the doom reavers and Gerlak managing to chew through about 6 doom reavers before failing to roll the 5 needed to hit.  Had I managed to avoid rolling a 4 or lower, he probably could have killed more than half of Justin's army on that activation, as the terrain forced him to pack in pretty tight.  On about turn 4 my kraken was killed and the left flank started to collapse.  Soon after, I began to run out of models that could contest.  Justin ended up winning on scenario 3-8.

Round five paired me against another MHD player, Michael Ambyth.  We had almost the same Skarre3 list as one option in our pairing.  His second list was Skarre2 in black industries.  We discussed the possibility of playing Skarre3 into Skarre3, but both decided that sounded like an awful experience for the fifth round of the day.  Instead, the matchup was Skarre1 into Skarre2.  The scenario was bunkers and Michael won the roll.  He elected to deploy second and chose his side.  I deployed and ran everything forward, keeping stalkers just outside his threat ranges.  I realized that my stalkers out threatened everything on his side of the board and thought this could be a rough matchup for Michael.  On bottom of one, he feated on Skarre2, Erebus, Kharybdis, Barathrum and the wraith engine.  He ran everything forward, trying to get my stuff in his threat ranges and counting on the feat to keep him relatively safe.  Top of two, Skarre1 popped feat, catching all the stalkers and herself.  The stalkers killed Barathrum and Kharybdis.  Due to missing attack rolls (and the push from poltergeist), it took three stalkers to break both of Erebus's arms.  Bottom of two, Michael strike to deal with the stalkers, but with his heavies all destroyed or crippled, his ability to fight back was severely limited.  Over the course of the next two turns, I destroyed most of his army in an attempt to table him (note - there was a bounty system where you could earn special rewards and one was for tabling your opponent.  At the start of my turn three, Michael and I discussed it.  Normally I would have just taken the scenario win and ended the game faster).  In the end, I was not able to destroy everything in his army before winning on scenario (though I came close).

Before I get to the wrap up, I want to say that all five of my opponents were great to play against.  All were as gracious in their wins and losses as I hope I am. 

I ended the day with a 3-2 record.  Somehow, I ended up winning all the games against players from the Mark Howard Dojo and losing the other two.   I felt good about how I played and very much enjoyed the eight stalker list.  It is oppressive and I did have a couple opponents state that they didn't know how they could really play into it.  My record and SoS was good enough for an overall 11th place finish in the event.  Goal one, finish high enough to win a huge based was accomplished.  Then it was a matter of waiting for everyone else who finished ahead of me to make their prize selections from the pile.  I got very lucky, and the only cryx item I needed (a kraken / sepulcher kit) fell to me.  I plan to magnetize it so I can run double kraken meme lists and sepulcher lists that may or may not actually be competitive.  I also managed to snag a bounty for winning by scoring 5 control points in a single turn.  This ended up with me getting a Forces of Convergence of Cyriss book with lots of PP staff signatures all over it.


Tier 1 Bounty Prize

I will give a quick shout out to Mark Howard, namesake of the dojo / meta I play in, as he won the Big Base Brawl event.  He spent all day grinding out games with Harbringer so he could bring home his coveted meat thresher.  Also, congratulations to Michael Stone who took down the Warfaire Weekend Qualifier, coming out on top of a very competitive field.

It was a fantastic event and I feel like I need to once again give a shout out to Seth Cohen, Stephen Rabideau and everyone who helped put this event together.  It was run well, we were fed lunch and given time for dinner.  The whole weekend was run very well and I am already looking forward to attending next year.  I cannot recommend the Bokur Brawl highly enough for anyone who wants a great event experience and is in, or is willing to travel to, the New Jersey area.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction

Hey all and welcome!  I have no idea who might actually be reading this, but let me tell you a little about me.  I like to consider myself a gamer.  For a long time, I thought that meant I was specifically into video games.  Then, I discovered table top RPGs.  Later came board games (real board games, not Monopoly and Clue, but things like Catan and Pandemic).  It was really only a matter of time before I found my way to tabletop war gaming.  My game of choice is Warmachine.  It's still the one and only table top war game I have played, though if I had the money and time I am sure I would find others enjoyable as well.  My first faction was Cryx.  Before I knew anything about rules, I read up on the fluff and decided that nothing could be better than a faction of undead necromancer pirate robots.  By happy coincidence, Cryx seems to be pretty good.  I started playing early in MK2 and promptly lost.  A lot.  I know t...

September Scrum Round 1

Round 1:  vs Christopher Michael Scenario:  Spread the Net The next Scrum begins with me paired up against Chris, who brings Grymkin to the party.  I spent a large portion of my work day studying up on Grymkin, and specifically his pairing.  Here are the lists we brought: Me: [Deneghra 2] Wraith Witch Deneghra [+28] -Dark Host  - Deathripper [6]  - Deathripper [6]  - Stalker [8]  - Stalker [8]  - Skarlock Thrall [0(4)] Bane Lord Tartarus [0(6)] Darragh Wrathe [9] Eilish Garrity, the Occultist [5] Soul Trapper [1] Bane Knights (max) [15] Bane Riders (max) [20] Bane Warriors (min) [10]  - Bane Warrior Officer & Standard [0(5)] Wraith Engine [15] [Skarre 3] Skarre, Admiral of the Black Fleet [+27] - Slaughter Fleet Raiders  - Kraken [36]  - Satyxis Blood Priestess [0(4)] Axiara Wraithblade [0(6)] General Gerlak Slaughterborn [0(6)] Ragman [4] Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6] Blighted Trollkin Marauders ...

March 2018 Scrum - Lists Submitted

After my success in the previous scrum (4-1 record), I immediately wanted to start planning for the next one.  My first thought was that my Skarre1 Dark Host list performed so well that I would repeat that as my primary list.  I wanted to really master that list before I moved on.  When thinking about my second list, I knew I needed to move on from Venethrax.  As much as I love Venethrax, he did not seem to be a great compliment for the Skarre1 list.  Therefore, I was going to try and work on a different off list.  Without really considering how she would compliment my Skarre1 list, I decided that I wanted to put together a Deneghra2 list. I started trying to come up with some initial ideas, but kept coming back to the idea that Denny2 just wanted to be in Dark Host.  I was mulling this over with Mark Howard, who runs the Scrum, and he suggested I reach out to Brad Park, who has been rolling Denny2 with some solid success.  Naturally, at the end...